


Before the Collapse

by Intergral810



Category: Far Cry 5
Genre: F/M, Funny, I Will Go Down With This Ship, Paperwork, Prequel, cop perspective
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-10-16
Updated: 2018-10-17
Packaged: 2019-08-03 00:35:28
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 2,191
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16315712
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Intergral810/pseuds/Intergral810
Summary: Emma Baron just wants to go home and relax after a 12 hour shift.  She has court on all of her days off and is behind on reports.  The unusually high call volume that has been plaguing Hope County for the last three months has made it extremely difficult to get out on time.  That, paired with the every annoying defense attorney, John Seed, her life has been completely miserable.The beginning takes place a few weeks before the events of the game.





	1. Chapter 1

Chapter 1

Emma sighed heavily into her hands and slumped over her tough-book. This job seemed completely pointless to her, like she was spinning wheels in the mud. Every warrant request she had submitted to the prosecutor seemed to go absolutely nowhere. It's been that way ever since the Seeds moved into town. 

It was bad enough she seemed to get all the shit calls that nobody else seemed to want. ‘Gotta love being the rookie’, she thought bitterly to herself. ‘No wonder nobody wants to do this job.’

The problem wasn’t just the shit calls, but the revolving door Hope County Jail seemed to be right now. The crimes she was arresting for were happening more and more frequently- and were more and more violent. Just last week, a man was beaten nearly to death at the Whitetail Mountain Visitor’s Center for arguing with a “Peggy”. A few days prior, a fire was started in the Valley that burnt a barn to the ground. Every other call they went on seemed to be a clusterfuck. 

Emma smirked to herself. She couldn’t help but laugh every time she heard the nickname the locals ‘affectionately’ gave to the people of Eden’s Gate. Anybody with an Internet search engine would be ‘in’ on that joke. The other local departments seemed to enjoy poking fun at the now threatening cult, too. 

God, she didn’t want to write these reports any more. She wanted to go home to her tiny duplex apartment, take a long bath, throw on Netflix, and destroy a bottle of pinot. Instead, she stared blankly at her tough-book docked in the squad room of the Hope County Sheriff’s Department. The Prosecutor, Sarah Richards, needed these reports by tomorrow morning’s arraignment. 

Not that anything she wrote would stick.

John Seed was the Peggy Defense Attorney and he seemed to have the entire legal system in his perfectly tailored pocket. 

Emma remembers the first time she met that asshole. His stupid smug face, his perfect white teeth, and his obnoxious demeanor made him unforgettable. His clothes were almost laughable, too. Anybody with two brain cells to rub together could tell that he wasn’t from around these parts. It seemed as if he woke up one day and decided he wanted to ‘dress like them there Montan folk’ and what he was wearing was a costume-almost as if he was a caricature. The entire situation would be laughable had it not been so deliciously dire. 

Sighing again, Emma took another sip of her now lukewarm coffee and continued pecking away at her report. God, she hoped if dispatch pulled for a call, Pratt or the local car on would be closer. These reports were biting her in the ass as it was.

Just as she was thinking that, the radio crackled to life.

“Central to county cars pulling for an assault in progress. 315, what is your location?” Nancy sounded worked up, so it must be intense.

“Central, 315. I’m upstairs.” Emma sighed and, grabbed her jacket. Guess it’s not going to be a quiet night.

“319, what’s your location?” Nancy sounded even more rushed pulling for Pratt.

“Central 319, a mile north of Falls End.” Pratt sounded like he didn't want to deal with these shenanigans either.

“319, there’s a fight at the Spread Eagle.” 

“Clear. You coming 315?” Pratt sounded more annoyed than anything tonight.

“10-4, 319. I’ll be en route. Copy direct, Central?” There goes my night…’ Emma thought to herself.

“Clear. Keep me posted, 315.” Nancy was so damn nosy. She just wanted more gossip fodder for tomorrow.

Emma arrived on scene about 5 minutes later and made contact with Pratt, who had already broken up the fight. “Bought time you got here, Rook,” Pratt said condescendingly. He had been a deputy for six months longer than her and boy did he rub in that sonority. 

Pratt was interviewing Nick Rye, who looked like he had a pretty nasty shiner on his left eye. Pratt nodded towards the two Peggies. Looked like she was getting saddled with the arrest tonight.

Emma rolled her eyes and grabbed one of the ‘Peggies’ involved in the fight, moving him to the push bumper of her car. He was a man in his early 20s with shaggy brown hair. His attempt at growing a beard was absolutely hilarious to her, as it came in scraggly patches around his neck and chin. He also smelled absolutely foul, like sweaty feet and mud. His lip was bloodied and he had a scuffed on his left elbow.

“Why don’t we start this conversation by giving me your name, mister…?” Emma started the interview. 

“Brian Cox. I was just trying to get the sinners so the Father will let me into Eden’s Garden. Those sinners were taunting us even though we just want to help. The collapse is nigh and we must look to our future with-“

“We’re getting off topic.” Emma interjected, feeling a headache coming on already. “How did this fight start? Now, before you answer, ONLY answer what I’m asking. I really don’t need a lecture about your religion.” 

“Well,” Brian started, “Me and my buddies came into the bar to spread the good word of the Father. That pilot dude started heckling us so I took a swing at him. Ya know? I was defending the Father.” 

In a perfect world or a normal county, that admission of guilt would be enough to charge Mr. Cox with a simple assault charge, but this was Hope County and he was a Peggy.

But this was far from a perfect world and Emma, unfortunately, knew this song and dance well. She placed handcuffs on Brian and placed him in the back of her car. She then went over to Pratt.

“Regular Peggy fight?” She asked. 

“Yep. I’m getting really sick of this shit. It seems like the cult is actively trying to be assholes now.” Pratt looked about as exhausted as Emma felt. This was a small department, and prior to Eden’s Gate, it was a quiet county. 

“315, 319- what is your status?” Nancy asked. 

Pratt grabbed the receiver attached to his shirt “Good status, Central. We’ll be clearing soon.”

“Clear.” Nancy stated. 

“I’m going to drop Mr. Pegs off at the Jail and then I’ll be back to report writing” Emma stated, shoulders slumped slightly. ‘Going to be another night burning the midnight oil’ she thought to herself. 

“Right. I’ll see you back at the station, Rook.” Pratt returned to his patrol car and cleared them both from the scene. 

Long night, indeed.


	2. Not Even Coffee Can Get Me Through This

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Deputy Baron has to go to court, which sucks. A lot.

Chapter 2

Emma grumbled to herself as the annoying buzz of her alarm went off. Slapping wildly in the direction of her alarm, she silenced the offending noise with a quick swipe. She had fallen asleep in her recliner in nothing but her undershirt and panties, uniform draped over her couch in an attempt to keep the wrinkles at bay. The attempt was there, but futile.

She rubbed her crusty eyes, cursing the sunlight popping through her dingy curtains. Three hours of sleep was not enough for the bullshit lined up for her today. She glanced down at her watch, wishing she could somehow move time back and get a full 8 hours of sleep. But, alas, it was 7:30 am and she had court at 9. 

Sliding out of the comfort of her chair, she padded towards her dinky bathroom and began her morning ritual. After what felt like the best shower she’d ever had, she began the task of trying to tame her wild locks. Her friends always envied her ginger hair, but she was absolutely over the jokes. Her nickname in the academy was ‘Coppertop’, and she still recalled the first time she’d met Sheriff Whitehorse. He’d pulled her into his office and remarked how he already knew she had a temper from living with red headed daughters. 

Emma smirked at the memory while braiding her thick locks and pinning them to her head in a simple bun. Little did he know the extent of her temper. Hell, focused anger had fueled most of her academy time. She always made sure the other recruits would regret going to hard on her during defensive tactics. Pressure points evened the playing field pretty well, in her humble opinion.

She was just glad to not be in training anymore. Deputy Hudson had been one of her field-training officers, and she was hard as nails. Despite the seniority difference, she and Joey had become fast friends. They were the only two female officers in the region, so they had to stick together. 

The dress uniform she wore for court was pulled out of her closet in her tiny bedroom. She actually liked this uniform better than the patrol uniform out on her couch. It wasn’t as comfortable, but looked way more impressive. She looked herself over in the mirror one more time and decided she looked good enough to lose again in court. Her subpoena showed J. Seed as defense, so she knew it was going to be moot.

She grabbed a cup of coffee on her way to the courthouse and mentally prepared for her case today. This particular case was a distribution of a controlled substance and operating while under the influence of drugs. The defendant in question was a Peggy from the Henbane Region, who was pushing what she assumed was some kind of PCP or LSD knock off. 

The samples of what the Peggies called ‘Bliss’ was sent to their crime lab in Missoula, but came back negative for any specific scheduled drug. There’s no way this shit could be legal, though. She’d responded to calls where people were so hopped up, they were hallucinating women in white dresses and nuclear bombs detonating in the distance. She shuddered when she thought of the last guy whom they were called out to apprehend. Tasers and OC spray only seemed to piss him off more. Took nearly six officers to bring him down, and even still it was a battle to get him into the car and to the jail.

She pulled into the courthouse police parking and checked out with dispatch. The woman working today was newer and sounded like a meek, little mouse over the radio. She never thought she’d miss Nancy.

“Good morning, Deputy Baron. How are you doing?” The bailiff asked from behind a desk, never looking up from his computer. 

“Just peachy, Dave. Love coming into court on my day off. You?” She replied dryly.

“You know, living the dream. You’ll be in courtroom 4C this morning. The prosecutor is waiting for you in the jury room. Just a forewarning, she looked pretty agitated when she got here.” He sighed, briefly making eye contact with Emma, giving her a sympathetic look.

“Thanks. I’d say ‘wish me luck’, but we all know how this is going to end” Emma forced a tight-lipped smile. Dave just smiled and nodded in response. 

If anybody could be the living embodiment of stress, it would be Prosecutor Sarah Richards. She was a wisp of a woman, long and lanky with pale skin, light blonde hair pinned back into an intricate knot, and tired blue eyes focused on a case she knew, against all odds, she would lose. 

“I’m glad you’re here early, Dep. I need to go over a few things with you before we go out there and face John Seed. “ She removed Emma’s police report from the folder on the table. There were sections highlighted and footnotes in the margins.

“So, we’re going for whatever we can get to stick, Emma. Trafficking, OUID, intent to distribute-hell, even the speeding citation you originally pinched him for. “ Sarah looked like she hadn’t slept in days, either. They, too, were a small office with an unusual workload. 

“Whatever you need, Sarah, I’m all over it.” Emma assured her. 

“I appreciate it. We’ll see how today goes. I might end up needing a few dozen shots of tequila though.” Sarah looked hopeful but realistic. She knew the judge was a closet Peggy.

Sarah wearily looked at her watch. “It’s show time, Emma. Let’s not be late to our own party”.

With that, they both entered the courtroom and took their seats. Emma felt eyes burning holes into them from the defense table. She took a moment and glanced over at John Seed. 

If looks could kill, she’d be dead on the spot. His blue eyes were piercing her under the façade of smug superiority. He was dressed in a fitted and tailored charcoal gray suit, with a crisp white linen shirt, and a black tie. He had a Peggy lapel pin on the left lapel of his jacket. 

His face just made her temper flare up that much more, though. She couldn’t stand letting this asshat of a man constantly win, dashing all of her hard work. 

“All rise for the Honorable Judge Brown.” Dave said, beckoning everybody to stand while the judge took his seat behind the bench. 

“You may be seated.” Judge Brown stated. Here we go, I thought.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I have to work the next few nights, so I'll try to update as soon as I can. :) Thank you for reading and I hope you enjoy!

**Author's Note:**

> So, yeah. This is my first fic. I have a pretty good idea of where I want to go with it. Let me know what you think!


End file.
